C12 – PROFINET Diagnostics during the entire life cycle of production lines at AUDI

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audi-a6-montage-neckarsulmPROFINET in action at a major plant of AUDI

The paper describes the successful deployment of a diagnostic and monitoring solution for the provision of network perfomance status based on PROFINET diagnostics. The implementation took place in a major plant of AUDI, one of Germany’s leading car manufacturers.

AUDI’s decision to standardize on PROFINET as communication protocol within its plants was in accordance with the recommendation of the German AIDA organisation (an initiative of the leading German car manufacturers Audi, BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and Porsche) to introduce PROFINET for automation projects in the German Automotive Industry in 2004.

AUDI’s specific requirements for the implementation of the PROFINET communication protocol went beyond the scope of typical network diagnostics and included the following:

  • Provision of network and error statistics as well as diagnostic information read from devices
  • Access to topology and asset information such as current firmware versions in real-time
  • Detection of added or failed devices and the creation of a reference measurement
  • Availability of the communication metrics for subsequent comparison
  • Graphical display of possible changes
  • Secure access from the overall network – managed by the IT department – to the automation network

Presented by: Bernd Kremer, Head of Sales – Industrial Network Diagnostic, Softing Industrial Automation GmbH

Published by profibusgroup